Corporate-level Evaluation on Gender Equality and Women’s

Empowerment

Preliminary Findings

63rd Session of the Evaluation Committee

15-16 July 2010

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Background

IFAD adopted a Gender Plan of Action (2003-2006),

approved by the Board in April 2003

In July 2008, the Programme Management Department

issued a Framework for Gender Mainstreaming

In October 2009, IFAD received the Global MDG3

Champion Torch

This is the first corporate-level evaluation on gender by

the Office of Evaluation

Evaluation Objectives

What IFAD’s corporate strategy says about gender equality and

women’s empowerment (consistency, relevance) and how

effectively has it been reflected in country strategies and projects?

What results have actually been achieved on the ground in

promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment?

Generate a series of findings and recommendations for IFAD’s

future activities related to gender equality and women’s

empowerment

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Process

Desk work including: (i) review of corporate strategy documents; (ii) meta-

evaluation of existing evaluative evidence; (ii) review of recently approved

COSOPs and projects; (iii) assessment of IFAD’s internal corporate

processes; and (iv) benchmarking exercise.

Five country visits to Bangladesh, Egypt, Guatemala, Mauritania and Zambia

Presentation of preliminary findings to Management and the Evaluation

Committee in July ’10

Preparation of draft final report

Stakeholders’ workshop, 27-28 Sep ’10 (first of its kind)

Evaluation Committee (26 November) and Executive Board (15-16

December) discussions

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Preliminary Findings

Corporate strategy and its implementation

There is a general consensus among the Board, Senior Management and staff of the importance in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment for sustainable agriculture and rural development

IFAD’s corporate strategy on paper is broadly relevant and consistent

(dispersed among numerous documents + experience-based)

Is IFAD walking the talk? The translation of strategy into action has not been

entirely adequate (e.g., administrative budget allocation, HR capacity

building, monitoring & reporting, incentives, accountability, communication,

etc)

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Preliminary Findings

Corporate strategy and its implementation

Specific, earmarked investments favoring gender and women’s empowerment in operations is difficult to aggregate and not systematic across the portfolio

There does not appear to be a common understanding of:

(i) related terminology: gender equality, gender equity, gender

mainstreaming, women’s empowerment; and

(ii) causes and dynamics of the gender problematic, leading to a wide range

of solutions pursued

Preliminary Findings

Results from past operations and current portfolio

Overall, performance of past projects is only moderately satisfactory, but

highly variable across projects and countries, and not always context specific

Introduction of innovative solutions to gender in past operations was

moderately unsatisfactory. There are few examples of scaling up

Gender equality and women’s empowerment issues increasingly incorporated

in recent COSOPs and projects

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Preliminary Findings

Corporate Processes

There is neither incentive for excellence in this area, nor consequence for staff who give low or no priority to the issue

Staff work planning and performance assessments is not results-oriented in

terms of gender achievements. Compliance culture predominant

Change in gender-balance in workforce is very slow, with the exception of

recent efforts at a very senior level. 6 of 23 mission members were women

(26%) in the 5 COSOPs reviewed in 2009, and only 2 gender experts. 24 of

124 mission members were women (19%) in 21 projects approved between

2003-2009, and only 6 gender experts. 8

Preliminary Findings

Corporate processes

Formal gender-friendly HR policies are in place, but organizational culture

does not encourage women or men who challenge traditional workplace

practices

IFAD’s results framework, strengthened quality enhancement and quality

assurance, shift to country presence and direct supervision are paying more

attention to gender equality and women’s empowerment

Learning and knowledge on gender is not pulled together, nor is progress

systematically monitored and reported9

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Preliminary Findings

Corporate Processes

Funding for specific gender work (thematic studies, self assessments, HQ capacity

building, etc) has depended heavily on supplementary funds and TAGs

Gender desk in Policy and Technical Advisory division does not have earmarked

annual administrative budget to support work plan and corporate strategy

Corporate capacity through divisional Gender Focal Points is inadequate

Gender Thematic Group is mainly a platform for exchanging information, but has no

coherent annual work plan, targets, budget, etc.

Preliminary Conclusions

IFAD is in principle well positioned, because of its mandate and strategy to become a global

leader in this area for agriculture and rural development

The corporate strategy is largely relevant and consistent, but not adequately translated into

action

Performance in the past however has been only moderately satisfactory and variable, even

though more recent country strategies and operations show improvements

Investments in gender-related work both in IFAD-funded operations and at HQs is difficult to

track and unsystematic. Heavy reliance on supplementary funds and TAGs

Learning and accountability framework to promote gender equality and women’s

empowerment is inadequate. Compliance rather than results culture prevalent

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Preliminary Recommendations

IFAD should develop a corporate gender policy to consolidate its strategy and approaches

Innovation and scaling up on gender should be an integral feature of COSOPs and

projects, as a means to achieve wider impact on rural poverty

Executive Board and Senior Management need to more actively monitor and report

progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment

Apply a results-oriented work planning and performance management system with

incentives and accountability, in order to shift from compliance to impact achievement

Invest specifically in knowledge management on gender, appoint a Champion in the Senior

Management on gender, and strengthen decentralized technical advice to operations

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